Collecting antique jewelry can be both fun and profitable. For example, this Modernist 14 karat white gold ring set with a chunky 2.4 carat rhodolite garnet and flanked by two brilliant cut diamonds perfectly encapsulates the go-go years of the 1970s.
What is the best way to collect antique jewelry for those with an eye toward future investment return? Now there’s something to be said for the simple, pure joy of owning a piece of old jewelry just because you love it. But if we’re going to be laying down hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars for a vintage piece, it is good to have some assurance that we’ll be able to recoup our investment down the road.
Before we get started on the best ways to collect antique jewelry for profit, I want to lay out some important ground rules.
I am only discussing fine jewelry in this article. I define fine jewelry as being made of 14 karat or higher purity gold. I’m not a big fan of lower karat gold alloys. Platinum and palladium are also excellent fine jewelry metals, although you’ll probably never run into the latter metal in a vintage piece. I believe sterling silver may be used in fine jewelry, but only within the context of the Modernist (circa late 1950s to the present), Brutalist (circa 1960 to 1980) or Arts & Crafts (circa 1880 to 1910) movements.
In other words, costume jewelry is outside the scope of this article. If you are in doubt as to whether a piece is costume or not just remember this handy tip: costume jewelry pretends to be more valuable than it actually is; fine jewelry does not.
So for example, a mass-produced 1940s Retro brooch by Trifari may be made of vermeil (gold plating over sterling silver) set with clear rhinestones. This is clearly imitating a solid karat gold brooch set with diamonds – a far more expensive piece. Our hypothetical Trifari brooch is clearly a piece of costume jewelry.
In contrast, a hand-fabricated 1960s Modernist Scandinavian bracelet may be crafted from solid sterling silver set with smoky quartz cabochons. This piece of jewelry is meant to stand alone as a work of art for your wrist. It is not attempting to imitate more valuable materials and is therefore a piece of fine jewelry in its own right.
I also want to make it clear that you always want to buy high quality jewelry – pieces that reflect both good craftsmanship and good zeitgeist. Zeitgeist is the term I use for jewelry that does a good job of embodying the design principles of its era. You want your Art Deco jewelry to be geometric and streamlined. Likewise, you want your Victorian jewelry to be chunky, ornate and bold.
The workmanship of a piece can’t be overlooked either. There is plenty of 14 karat and 18 karat gold vintage jewelry out there that was mass-produced to an inferior standard. This substandard jewelry may have blobs of excess solder, bulky prongs or paper-thin metal (to save on weight). It may also be set with cheap and poorly cut – albeit genuine – stones. Even if it is legitimately old, such jewelry is only fit for the melting pot and should be avoided at all costs.
Now let’s continue on to the main topic.
1) Collecting Antique Jewelry by Theme
First on our list is collecting antique jewelry by theme. The wonderland of subject matter to choose from is so diverse as to be mind boggling.
For example, you could concentrate on jewelry with an animal theme – cats, dogs, horses, dolphins, insects, birds, etc. You could even specialize in mythological animals if you cared to. Animals have been perennially popular in antique jewelry straight from antiquity right up until the present day.
Another possibility would be sports. The vintage jewelry market is overflowing with fine example paying homage to tennis, golf, bowling, baseball, basketball, football and soccer, among others. Simply pick the sport you like best (or collect them all as a “sports generalist” jewelry aficionado)!
Transportation is another favorite motif. This encompasses cars, trains, airplanes, ships and even stagecoaches. What makes this area of vintage jewelry collecting so fascinating is that 20th century society was absolutely obsessed with speed. Whether it was a Stutz Bearcat sports car or a Pan Am Clipper airplane, the faster it went, the sexier it was.
Of course, if you find a particular subject matter too limiting, you can always collect antique jewelry by type. For instance, you could focus on just purchasing bracelets, pendants, rings or brooches. Or you could delve into more obscure areas like stickpins, cameos or mourning jewelry. The hobby can be whatever you want it to be.
A final theme would be to collect old jewelry by era. If you really love the look of a particular time period, this may be the way to go. Do you adore long flowing hair and idealistic naturalism? Then 1890s Art Nouveau jewelry is your fix. Do you admire sleek lines and bold geometric forms? Then 1920s Art Deco is your answer. Do you long for organic abstraction? Then 1960s Modernist is your ambition.
Photo Credit: AnotherSkyVintage
This slightly whimsical Edwardian era owl stickpin is from the first decade of the 20th century. By cleverly combining multi-colored white, rose and yellow gold with old European cut diamonds for eyes, it achieves a stunning effect. With an asking price below $1,000, this stickpin is not only a superb example of highly collectible animal-themed antique jewelry, but is also a good investment piece.
I believe that collecting vintage jewelry by theme has perhaps the most potential in today’s market. Old jewelry sporting desirable themes is highly collectible in my opinion, with a vast pool of interested buyers. It is certainly the most flexible approach. There are good quality examples available for just a few hundred dollars, or even a bit less if you get lucky.
The downside of collecting antique jewelry by theme is that there is almost too much choice. You will have to do the legwork involved in winnowing out lower quality pieces in order to find that one gem hidden among the dregs. It does represent an easy entry point into the field of vintage jewelry collecting, but some experience will be necessary in order to achieve true proficiency.
2) Collecting Antique Jewelry by Intrinsic Value
The second avenue to collect antique jewelry is by intrinsic value. This technique involves only purchasing vintage jewelry that is priced close to the underlying value of its component parts. Another term for intrinsic value is scrap value. One way to visualize this is to imagine taking apart a specific piece of jewelry until all we have left are piles of loose gemstones and precious metals. If these resulting precious materials were sold as scrap, they would represent the intrinsic value of a piece.
However, I want to emphasize that we never intend to disassemble fine antique or vintage jewelry for its scrap value; it is always worth far more in its original form. Nonetheless, intrinsic value remains a valuable concept for the jewelry collector or investor.
Under normal circumstances it is impossible to purchase a piece of fine vintage jewelry for less than its intrinsic value. The market simply doesn’t price good quality antique jewelry at or below the value of its component parts. In fact, I believe that double intrinsic value is a good starting price point for old fine jewelry. In other words, you’ve gotten a good deal if the intrinsic value of a piece is 50% (or more) of the price you pay.
One downside to the intrinsic value method of buying antique jewelry is that it can be difficult to properly estimate the scrap value of gemstones. Some gems (like natural rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds) can be very valuable – up to thousands of dollars per stone – while others (like citrines, blue topazes, amethysts and moonstones) can be worth almost nothing – a dollar a stone or even less. And this doesn’t even take into account the fact that synthetic stones (which usually have no intrinsic value at all) have been regularly mounted in jewelry since circa 1900! So there is definitely a subjective element to estimating the value of a gem-studded piece of jewelry.
In contrast, the precious metal content of jewelry is generally much easier to estimate.
First, you weigh the piece. Second, you subtract the estimated weight of any gemstones. Each carat of gem weight is equal to 0.2 grams, but the overall estimated gemstone weight doesn’t have to be very exact to be useful. Next, you multiply the net metal weight by the fineness of the alloy, expressed as a percentage. For example, 14 karat gold is 58.3% fine and 18 karat gold is 75% fine. The resulting number is the actual (estimated) pure precious metal content of the jewelry, which can then be multiplied by the current spot price of the metal to arrive at a dollar value.
Another downside of the intrinsic value strategy is that it forces you to be an opportunist. You can’t set out by saying, “I’m only going to purchase 1920s era Art Deco rings at less than 2x their intrinsic value.” There simply isn’t enough available in the marketplace for an approach this narrow to be viable. You will end up finding – and therefore buying – nothing.
Instead, you need to cast a wide net when investing in vintage jewelry based on intrinsic value. This means you must consider most eras and jewelry types. And your resulting collection will, by necessity, end up being somewhat eclectic.
The great advantage of purchasing vintage jewelry with a low price to intrinsic value ratio is that it is a very low risk proposition. Honestly, if done properly it should be almost impossible to lose money using this method. And the upside can be substantial. Incidentally, this is the method I use in my personal collecting, although it is certainly not for everyone.
But if all of this sounds a bit overwhelming, then I have a convenient shortcut you may find useful. If you can purchase a (non-synthetic) gem-set piece of fine antique jewelry in either 14 karat (or better) gold or platinum for $100 a gram or less, then it is usually a good deal from an intrinsic value standpoint. Many sellers will openly state a gram weight in their online listings, which makes this hint especially handy. The $100 a gram mark would equate to approximately double intrinsic value under most circumstances.
Photo Credit: nooni
This stylish pair of 1950s 14 karat yellow gold Mid-Century Modern cufflinks weighs an impressively hefty 13.6 grams. In addition, they are set with two good quality cabochon cut natural star sapphires. As a result, the intrinsic value of the set is approximately the same as its asking price (around $700) – a rare instant win in the world of vintage jewelry.
An alternative to the intrinsic value method of collecting fine vintage jewelry is to concentrate on examples that only employ one specific gemstone or material. In effect, you would become a specialist on one particular gem or metal. For example, you could choose to only collect platinum jewelry. Or you could specialize in pre-WWII jewelry containing old cut diamonds. You could even pursue something slightly outside the box like only collecting enameled jewelry or coral-set pieces, for example.
By specializing in one select material you would eventually become extremely knowledgeable about it. This would allow you to much more easily spot bargains in your chosen area of expertise. However, this approach lacks the safety of buying old jewelry based on a reasonable price to intrinsic value ratio.
3) Collecting Antique Jewelry by Designer
The final approach to collecting vintage jewelry is by designer or name brand. This strategy is pretty straight forward. Simply purchase older jewelry hallmarked by luminary haute couture luxury houses such as Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Boucheron, Harry Winston, Van Cleef & Arpels, or Buccellati, among others.
The benefit to following this strategy is that you are guaranteed a fairly high level of overall quality. These storied luxury houses only hired experienced craftsmen who worked with the highest quality materials. As a result, vintage jewelry from Cartier, for example, will always be both well made and set with fine, natural gemstones.
The big downside to this type of collecting is that everyone else has already figured it out already. This means that prices for antique fine designer jewelry are through the roof – almost always thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars per piece. In fact, I am of the opinion that many participants in the vintage jewelry market use name brands as a proxy for quality.
That isn’t a compliment, by the way. It means that buyers are taking a shortcut to compensate for their lack of industry knowledge. But it is a very expensive shortcut.
Even though the luxury houses produced excellent quality jewelry, it doesn’t mean they had a monopoly on the very best jewelry. In fact, it is not uncommon for some high-end, completely unmarked vintage jewelry to be crafted to a better standard than pieces from even the most renowned luxury houses! But because many collectors don’t know how to identify the characteristics of high quality vintage jewelry on their own, they default to buying the “Tiffany & Co.” stamp on the back.
As a result they not only overpay in my opinion, but are also susceptible to forged hallmarks illicitly placed on lower quality goods.
Of course, one can always look beyond the typical designer names.
There were many other jewelry manufacturers who produced fine quality pieces that simply don’t get the same reverence as the haute couture luxury houses do. Overlooked makers include Liberty & Co. of London, Krementz of New Jersey, J.E. Caldwell of Philadelphia and Oscar Heyman of New York City. There were also more specialist jewelers like Mikimoto of Tokyo – a cultured pearl expert, Ming’s of Hawaii – specializing in jade, coral and pearls, and Gump’s of San Francisco – a leader in Orientalist motifs, jade and pearls.
Photo Credit: caz7722
The delicately hued enamels on this 1950s Krementz brooch are a feast for the eyes. Although it isn’t as well known as some of the big luxury houses, Krementz produced some truly top-notch vintage jewelry which is richly deserving of collectors’ and investors’ attention.
Because they are not household names, the pricing for these lesser-known vintage jewelry makers is often substantially less than that of the premier brands. However, their quality is not necessarily any lower. In fact, sometimes these makers produced jewelry for the major luxury houses under contract. But you would never know it because the Cartier or Tiffany & Co. hallmark is all that ended up being stamped on the finished goods.
A final approach to collecting antique jewelry by designer is to choose obscure makers who were nonetheless leaders in their fields. For example, Larter & Sons of Newark, NJ concentrated on men’s jewelry such as stickpins, cufflinks and studs. Carter, Gough & Co., also of Newark, NJ, specialized in pins and cufflinks, although they produced other types of jewelry as well.
Because these companies typically closed their doors decades ago, they have little name recognition today. As a result, it is often possible to pick up their masterpieces for a pittance compared to more well-known makers.
The big disadvantage of collecting antique jewelry from companies with little market acceptance is that their day in the sun may never come. Collectors may simply never really catch on to the fact that these underappreciated designers produced some truly fine jewelry.
In the end the most important rule for collecting antique jewelry is to buy what you like. However, it wouldn’t hurt to do so within one of the three frameworks listed above: theme, intrinsic value or designer.
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